RE: Biohazard (PG-13, Chapter One posted...but...)
Zyflair’s probably going to kill me for getting this up so late…
Chapter One: Archangel
Three years… Seraph sighed as she sat alone, high in an oak tree. She watched quietly as the full moon rose over the timberlands west of Pokémon Square, its glow revitalizing the lush springtime colors that the daytime had otherwise denied her.
At one meter tall, the seventeen-year-old Skunanne closely resembled the silhouette of a human child save only for her slight maw and her long bushy tail. Her figure was overall sylphlike and covered with elegant silk-like fur. She had beautiful sapphires for eyes that glisten in the moonlight, both of which were surrounded by thin white loops that in turn gave way to concaved lines that the sides of her forehead. As a mark of pride, the skunk girl had thicker locks atop her brow, under which her stripes seemed to vanish; those tresses were combed back neatly and twisted into three braids that dangled more than halfway down her rear. The creature’s markings returned on her shoulders and cascaded down her back in twin waterfalls of inch-long slants. Eventually the stripes merged at her tail and coursed down its midsection in a solid stripe until spreading across the tip of the appendage like a glossy fan.
This place reminded her so much of her home back. It was hard to believe that it had already been this long since she got outcast from her tribe. Even now, the memory of that horrific night still fazed her.
‘You’re no daughter of mine!’ her father’s voice screamed at the back of her mind,
‘Get the h*ll out!’ She cringed as the pain from her sendoff beating started to come back.
Shaking it off, the skunk scratched the side of her head, nearly catching the opal earring dangling from her semi-ellipse of an ear. At least she could take some solace that she was as far from Midnight Forest, and furthermore the Furlong Wood, as she could possibly get. While it’d been a difficult trek these past several weeks, her group finally made it to the northern continent. Knowing their luck, however, things were just going to breakdown here as always.
“Good grief, Kit! Grow up already!” a gruff voice barked from below.
“Here we go again,” she whispered in a sweet soprano.
Grabbing the leather-bound quiver on her left and the crude short bow on her right, the skunk stood up quickly. She slew the case around her backside and then dropped to a branch below. From there, Seraph watched as her partners readied to fight one another.
A couple yards from the tree’s trunk, the closest one was a three-and-a-half-foot tall wolf with a thick tan-colored hide. Strangely the canine wore a thick copper mask over the entirety of his brow adorned with a wide eye-shaped pattern marked by a white oval with an amber-colored iris. Likewise the beast had the black tattoo of a lupine pawmark branded on the back of his head as though it were some sort of ritualistic mark, with a matching ring stretching around his collar. Down his back, she saw three long scars that were so deep his skin never regenerated and so they looked blood red. Lastly she noted how a pair of silvery bands encircled his hind ankles, which gave off a faint purple aura as his anger began to spike.
Across from the Caniclops stood a dingy brown mammal that looked to be just less than two feet in high. The marsupial’s roughly egg-shaped head turned slowly around as the wolf started approaching on his left and his trapezoidal ears twitched a bit, revealing a small bite out of the top of his right one. From what she could tell, he had a fairly narrow mouth with hinged lower jaw; evidently the creature took more than his share of bad attacks as he was almost missing a few incisors. His arms looked unusually bony, though his forepaws had three stumpy fingers apiece with long and thick black claws. Because of his scrawniness, the Pokémon’s ribcage and pelvis were distinctly visible and his abdomen looked incredibly thin. Finishing his corpselike appearance, a long rope of vertebrae formed almost all but the very beginning of his tail.
For a split-second, the Oposease focused the tiny dots in the middle of his otherwise ash-white eyes on Seraph and then back at the Caniclops. Drawing a wooden arrow, she loaded her bow and took aim for the dog’s head.
“Walk on your own feet for a change!” the wolf roared as he nipped at the opossum. Seraph shot the projectile. It ricocheted off the edge of his mask, and the beast yelped.
“I bet you think you’re something, don’t you, Cairo?” the skunk asked smugly, “A twenty-five year old Caniclops picking on a twenty-one week old Oposease… And you nag me about maturity?”
“D*mn it, girl! I’m tired of lugging his *ss everywhere we go, and you know that!” he retorted.
“Come here and say that to my face because you know my next shot won’t miss.”
As she reached for a second arrow, her other partner screamed at the top of his meager lungs, “Don’t do it, Seraph!”
“Why shouldn’t I, Kit? You guys go through this at least once or twice a day and, quite frankly, I’m sick of it.”
“Feeling’s mutual!” Cairo replied.
“Oh, you’re dead.”
Seraph readied another shot, taking aim at the center of the beast’s eyeball. Cairo blinked once and caused his pupil to dilate out to the rim of his iris; then a blackened aura began swirling in front of it, followed swiftly by the creation of a Shadow Ball. Panicking, Kit let out a terrifying scream that caused both of his allies to become stiff with fear.
“Stop it, both of you!” the opossum then cried, small tears coming from his eyes.
“Kit…” Seraph uttered, allowing the string of her weapon slowly go back to the standby position, “He has no right treating us like this, and you know that…” Cairo said nothing in response, just glancing back and forth between his allies as the sphere he made vanished.
“I know, but didn’t you say once that we need each other to survive out here?” the opossum whimpered.
Regaining full control of her body, the skunk nodded slightly, knowing that he was correct. Since the day they fled Treasure Town, they had been at each other’s throats constant. Yet if not for the fact that they stuck together, none of them would probably have lived this long, even with their fighting experience.
Team Feral Fang had made quite a name for itself as an exploration team over the past couple years back in Treasure Town. At one point, they attained Gold Rank and even been called ‘the pride of Wigglytuff’s Guild.’ But that all changed over a month ago when they were dishonorably discharged for negligence on a mission that nearly cost a client his life, and then became outlaws after stealing equipment for their expedition here. Now that their supplies had dwindled, it was time to do it all over again.
“So what’s the plan, Seraph?” Kit asked, as she jumped down from the tree.
“Well, this isn’t Treasure Town, that’s for d*mn sure,” she commented, unstringing her bow. Then she shuffled it gently into her quiver.
“Ha, what was your first clue?” Cairo scoffed as he sat down.
Though she’d have done reconnaissance anyways, the canine’s insight had more than paid off earlier when Seraph was scouting the town for possible targets in tonight’s heist. Despite her nagging curiosity, now wasn’t exactly the time to question him as to how he knew so much about Pokémon Square or, furthermore, his life before entering the guild. They had to focus on the task at hand or they’d never get away from here.
Turning around, the skunk saw two bags placed neatly against the side of the tree. The first was a crude leather satchel sewn together by twine and with a thick strap attached. Next to it, the other sack looked significantly larger and as if it were much better made; the light brown case also had several pockets compared to other one as well as the insignia of a small ball flanked by little wings stitched atop its main flap.
Seraph grabbed the simpler one and undid the knot keeping it closed. Inside she saw a long rope with one of its ends tied so that it formed a loop, a short knife chiseled out of stone, and a large piece of paper folded into thirds. Quickly she took out the sheet and dropped her bag off to her side. Unfolding the chart, she then set it in front of her partners and picked up a small stick.
“If nothing else, I was lucky enough take this off one of the shop owners in town,” she then commented.
Crudely illustrated at best, the map depicted an expanse of woodland to the west and north of a small village perched near a sea cliff. The town had a simple layout consisting of four main quadrants bisected by two dirt roads and with small circles marking off where homes and other buildings were. In addition to the village proper, there was also a pond near the north forests as well as two isolated houses, one on the eastern ledge of the local outcropping and the other near the town’s southern ledge.
Pointing at the northwest fringe of town, Seraph said, “Don’t be surprised if there’s not much here worth taking, you two, especially since this shop belongs to those godforsaken Kecleon Brothers.”
“Their cousins, you mean,” Cairo interjected as he and Kit came closer.
“So, what are we going to do about them?” Kit asked.
“Gouge their throats while they sleep. Death will be justice enough after the bullcr*p their family’s put us through.”
“What?”
Seraph tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Cairo had a good point. Even at their nicest, the Kecleon Brothers back home always found some way to screw them out of a deal. Also, it wasn’t like the creatures were going extinct; it seemed almost like, for every one that died, there were hundreds more to take its place. Furthermore, these creatures were notorious for mobbing thieves the moment they realized they were being robbed, and so killing them in their sleep might be the best option to prevent that from happening…
“No!” she shook her head.
“No, my…”
“Enough, Cairo! As tantalizing as that type of vengeance sounds, you have to think of it this way. If you go and kill somebody in this town, it’s going to cause a riot. Furthermore, I’d like to see you try to use attacks like Psycannon in this small of village, especially at night when all the neighbors will no doubt hear it.”
“Yeah, but you haven’t been here before. Nobody in this town actually cares about each other.”
“Right. And are you sure you’re not just saying that because you had a bad childhood?” she remarked, “I mean, how long has it been? Ten, fifteen, maybe twenty years since you were here last? Doesn’t help when you withhold information from us, especially when we’re on the run!”
Cairo squinted and replied, “So be it… But if you must know, I have issues with my father and I doubt he’d be pleased to see me, even after all this time.”
“Whatever. Just keep an eye on him, Kit.” The opossum nodded. Seraph then turned back to the map and pointed at a building in the southwest part of town.
“I found this place rather interesting. It’s a storage shack owned by an elderly Kangaskhan. She was the one who gave me this map, but after that I ran away to make her think she scared me.”
“If memory serves, that woman’s a tough one, and she’s uptight when it comes to security. So your best bet would be to go through windows on the roof.”
“Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious. Besides, I skimmed her thoughts earlier. She isn’t exactly the kind of Pokémon that would bring herself to hurt an innocent little Skunanne.”
“Like you’d know one,” Cairo murmured.
“Oh, just shut the h*ll up and let me finish.”
Pointing at one final building in the northeast section, she explained, “This one might be a little tricky. In fact, we may not want to even hit this place at all. But, I figured while we were at it, we might as well get some cash by robbing the bank here.”
“If you saw a Persian there, we won’t have any trouble. Despite his looks, he’s really jumpy and my Hypnosis should be more than effective.”
“Not what I had in mind, but if it works, we’ll do it.”
“But, what if we find money at the Kecleon Brother’s stand?” Kit asked.
“Take it too. It all spends the same,” Seraph responded.
The skunk turned around to the large bag and grabbed it. Then she flopped it on the ground in front of her so she could open it. In it, there was a small black pouch, which she tossed to Kit. Afterwards, she took the sack and helped Cairo put it around his back. When they finished adjusting it, Seraph picked up her own satchel and slung it around her side like a purse. Next, she folded the map back up, put it away, and took out her knife.
“Remember… No witnesses, but I want to make as clean of get away as possible,” she said, pointing her dagger at each of her allies who nodded in sequence, “I’ll see you at the bank.”
Seraph turned to the tree again and started to climb it. Once she reached an east-stretching branch, she stopped to watch Kit sluggishly head towards in the direction of town. Perturbed by the critter’s pace, Cairo picked him up with his teeth and set Kit on his back. Then, the twosome dashed off into the foliage.
Alone now, the skunk made her way across the limb until reaching its end, where she sprung to a higher on in the next tree. Landing gracefully, she continued her trek through the treetops, shooting from branch to branch with ninja-like speed. While she was quick on the ground, it was always more efficient for to travel this way. By doing so, she could spot and eliminate threats before they could get at her cohorts. Tonight, however, her trip went off without a hitch and she arrived on the outskirts of town in a matter of moments.
As she stopped in a birch tree to catch her breath, the Skunanne took a good look at the village she had been to earlier. Unlike the grayscale drawing on her map, the community was quite lush and seemed to bear an inviting effervescent glow in the stunning moonlight. She could better make out the earthen dome-huts now that took up most of the town as well as the several larger buildings that were mixed in with them, including her target near the middle of the southwest neighborhood. For a moment, she even felt a slight sense of homesickness…
But her longings were dispelled the second her left ear twitched, hearing the sound of leaves rustle. Somebody had found her. It was a Dark Pokémon, too; she could just sense his thoughts coming from two, perhaps three meters directly behind her.
“Well, well, well… Look who we have here,” a shrill voice spoke, “You’re up kind of late, aren’t ya, little girl?”
“If you know what’s good for you, leave me alone…” she whispered, hunching over slightly.
“Ho-ho! Feisty one, eh? Well…” he continued until she curled her tail against her back.
“W-wait a second!” A gaseous cloud of gluey musk exploded from Seraph’s buttocks as she leaped into the air.
“Ah! My eyes! My…my…eyes…” her victim yawned
Landing on all fours, Seraph pivoted to watch the short biped stagger and then fall off his limb face-first into the bushes. Immediately she ran up to him while holding her dagger overhead, ready for a quick stab.
When she saw who the Pokémon was, the skunk gawked in absolute disgust. Of all things, the creature just had to be the same type of disgusting black imp she hated to have run-ins with back home. The gremlin was barely any bigger than she was, though his skin seemed to be a few shades lighter than her fur and he had a wide red frill atop his crown with long ears and a collar that matched. His arms looked unusually scrawny in comparison to his large gray hands with sharp grayish claws. And, sticking out of his butt was a pair of reddish feathers she really knew were part of his tail.
In her mind, Weavile were amongst the lowliest beasts on the planet. Despite having some similarities with each other, their species absolutely loathed one another. To believe that this one actually tried to hit on her! But at least she got him with her Sleep Spray before he could make any more moves on her.
Putting her knife way, Seraph grabbed the cretin’s arm and started to drag him into the underbrush. As soon as she felt like they were far enough from the trail, the skunk threw the imp as far into the bushes as she could. As soon as he was out of sight, she dashed back towards the village. She knew he’d be out until tomorrow morning at least, so there wasn’t much point in trying to hide him better; nobody ever went off the main paths in the woods back home and that same mentality had be commonplace here as well.
When she reached the stream on the outskirts of the village, Seraph stopped dead in her tracks, sensing that something had suddenly changed about the atmosphere. She couldn’t tell for certain but it felt as though something was watching her from across the footbridge, just daring her to come. Furthermore, this presence didn’t have her the same feeling she got when Ghost Pokémon were nearby; it seemed borderline demonic.
Readying her bow, the skunk girl shook the feeling off and charged gung-ho into town. Darting from hut to hut, Seraph hid herself as well as she could in the slight shadows she saw on the sides of the domes. Her pelt was the perfect camouflage at night. Even if someone looked straight at her, they would never be able to spot the Skunanne with or without her stripes hidden.
After she finally reached the largest building, she stopped to examine it for a moment. The structure’s design was a bit more intricate than the rest of the shacks, modeled roughly after its proprietor for easy recognition by the few Pokémon who still remained illiterate despite the adoption of human languages over the past few centuries. At least she could take some pride in the fact that her kind actually developed their tongue before mankind went extinct.
Ear twitching wildly, the skunk drew an arrow and turned around swiftly to take deadly aim at what she thought to be an oncoming foe. However, she didn’t see anything there. Again her senses betrayed her a second time this evening. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if was it only her imagination or if someone could really be stalking her and hiding?
“Saul! Oh, Saul!” the elderly creature called from the other side of the building.
Curiosity getting the best of her, Seraph quickly climbed to the top of the hut. There she peaked over the top to see the shadows of two Pokémon stretching out from between a couple houses over. The first she recognized as the storage unit’s owner, and the other as the distinct silhouette of a large dog Pokémon.
“Good evening, Kanga! How are you tonight?” the beast replied in a gruff voice that closely resembled Cairo’s.
“I’m fine, thank you. But I was wondering if you found that girl yet.”
“The Skunanne from this afternoon? No. She vanished into the night, it would seem. Her scent trail ends at the woods.”
No cr*p, you idiot… Seraph chuckled.
“The poor child seemed awfully shy. I just hope we didn’t intimidate her. I tried to make conversation and even gave her a small gift, but she fled the moment I spoke.”
“Don’t fret over it. She’ll be back eventually. In the meantime, get some rest. Good night!” The sound of shifting metal continued, but this time heading away from the building.
“Yes, good night!”
Afterwards, the shadows started to move into sight. Seeing that, Seraph scooted down the side of the shed she’d come up and flipped her body around so she could lay her back against it. The moment she did though, she felt the same presence again and it was almost on top of her. Scanning the ground, it didn’t look as if anybody was nearby but she knew better this time.
“Hard to shoot someone when you can’t see them, isn’t it?” a feminine voice purred from directly overhead. A large black paw pressed down on Seraph’s right shoulder and then sent several volts of electricity through her body. After the quick assault, her attacker pushed her off the building and let her fall limply to the ground.
Paralyzed from head to toe, the skunk could do nothing but watch as the silhouette of a four-and-a-half foot tall lioness leapt to a patch of dirt next to her and glinted at her with disdainful yellow eyes. As she slowly moved into the moonlight, Seraph could see that the feline had a thick black main that coursed the length of her head, neck, back, shoulders, tail, and part of her forelegs; though, distinctive blue fur covered a good portion of her face and ears, her abdomen, and most of her hind legs. Likewise, the creature had peculiar golden rings around the back of her front legs as well as similar spots in her ears and a matching spur at the end of her tail.
D*mn it to h*ll! the skunk cursed to herself.
“It’s times like these that I’m proud to be a Luxray! You may’ve gotten my partner with that spray of yours, but unlike him I know how to handle you godforsaken Psychic-types. It’s so easy to confuse your senses after all. Just like a game of hide and seek, don’t you know?” her captor laughed as she circled around Seraph.
Noting the fact, Seraph cracked a little smile and commented, “You’re right. You almost did get me.”
“Almost? What the h*ll do you mean ‘almost’?” the Luxray sneered, stopped in front of the skunk’s face.
“Hmm, think of it this way. I, a Skunanne, am not just a Psychic Pokémon but a Dark one too.”
The lioness stuck her maw in a little closer, showing her fangs and making sparks appear throughout her mane, and growled, “What’s your point, girl?”
“Well…you’re not!” Seraph remarked, making the opal earrings glow with a violet gleam. Suddenly, her attacker felt a terrible pain spread throughout her body as she was overwhelmed by the skunk’s Psychic attack. Then Seraph flung her into the side of the nearby shed as hard as she could to knockout her foe.
Slowly but surely, Seraph caught her breath and managed to get back on her feet. Her muscles were still numb and her stance wobbly, but even so she grabbed her bow and one arrow and limped away as quickly as she could. While there was no way for her to finish her part of the job now, hopefully Cairo and Kit had managed to rob the Kecleon Brothers’ stand. At least then, tonight wouldn’t have been a total waste.
No sooner did she reach the roadside of one of the town’s main streets, though, did her senses start acting up again.
Not again… she quivered, knowing that another attack would sure kill her. This time, she just sat down near a signpost and laid her weapons on the ground in front of her to show her surrender.
Several moments passed yet nothing approached from any which direction. However, she could still sense something approaching.
“Yi quef!” she shouted in her tribal language.
I give up! She picked up her gear again and step onto the street.
When she did, a terrifying breeze penetrated her entire body. It felt unlike anything she’d ever experienced before, as if the spirit of death were entering and exiting her soul to analyze it. The whole time it was occurring, she could’ve sworn she heard horrible whispers chanting in hateful rhythms. And then, it suddenly stopped.
“Quay vek nyi-os shyi-cu?” a powerful voice finally asked her.
Where are the traitors?
As if from nowhere, a shadowy creature began to take form just a few feet in front of her. At first it took the general form of a wolf-like Pokémon. But slowly, it began to grow to over nine feet tall and became shrouded in a thick cloudlike mane of translucent silver hair that hid all but its face, chest, and forelegs. Then, its bloodshot amber-colored eyes emerged from its forehead, with a second smaller pair opening up beneath them. Finally, the monster protruded bloodstained fangs from its maw and grotesque claws grew out of its forepaws.
“What…?” she nervously asked the beast as it loomed over her with a menacing glare.
“Vek quay tok mo! Nef yi!” the demon demanded.
Do not lie, child! Answer me!
“Quay vo!” she screamed.
Be gone! And on command, the entity vanished.
For a moment, Seraph felt dazed… Somehow she knew what that phantom was, but she couldn’t figure out how or why. After a couple seconds, the realization struck her like a club.
“Hellfire!” she heard Cairo shout in the distance. Right afterwards, several explosions followed.
D*mn it, Cairo! she told herself as she ran back towards the entrance to town,
Don’t you ever listen?
As she approached, she watched her comrades fleeing the scene of their robbery with Kit riding on Cairo’s back. Not even glancing in her direction, they took off across the bridge and into the woods.
<End Chapter One>
Before anyone says anything, I know…it’s bad. Furthermore, it’s unfinished. I’ve been struggling with this story for the past couple years and haven’t been able to get it past chapter three, and the only reason I bothered posting this one was to hopefully get some advice. If not, that’s all right because I was probably going to quit this one somewhere down the line anyways…
